The O&L Group has set itself the strategic objective of becoming one of the top ten best companies to work for in southern Africa by 2011. The associated survey is conducted by Deloitte & Touche South Africa once a year. For the Group it was very clear from the beginning that, in order to achieve this objective, value needed to be added to its employees’ experiences at the workplace, thereby creating a motivated workforce. The Group participated in the survey in 2008 for the first time. Its participation was on a virtual basis, in preparation for actual participation in 2011. Various interventions have been initialized and successfully implemented to ensure great results in the actual participation. Training interventions During the second half of 2008, the Human Capital Division at the Ohlthaver & List Centre embarked on an exercise to customise all generic training interventions based on the needs of the various operating companies, in order to ensure that their contents addressed the specific needs of individual business units. These interventions were then implemented across the Group as from February 2009. The Group invested significantly in the development of our human resources in the year under review. From Adult Basic Education Training (ABET), to leadership training for middle and top management and QDVP3 training for the sales force, training has been a focus area and will continue to be in the period ahead. The Group continued with ABET, whereby employees are offered the basics in English literacy and arithmetic, allowing them opportunities for growth and empowering them to improve the quality of their lives.